I have just returned from a Virgin Trains publicity event at the “Railway Age” museum in Crewe. It has long been recognised that the new Pendolino electric units now being delivered to Virgin owe much of their tilt technology to the British Rail APT (Advanced Passenger Train) of 20+ years ago. The British media of the time would have us believe that the APT was a failure but apart from a few teething problems it was in fact highly successful and was only abandoned because of the governments unwillingness to finance it further. As part of the Pendolino launch program Virgin Trains paid for the surviving APT set to be repainted as it was becoming a little shabby after years in the open. Today they arranged for one of their Pendolino sets (no.390006) to be positioned on the main line outside the museum so that the two distant relations could be compared when the APT’s new paint job was unveiled. Very soon this will be a regular sight at Crewe as more and more Pendolinos take over services on the West Coast Main Line. The APT’s new paint job being unveiled. The old and the new together. Class 370 APT on the left and Class 390 Pendolino on the right. Close up of APT driving trailer. A diesel Virgin Voyager unit passing the electric Pendolino. After the ceremony the Pendolino set was taken north for further trial runs on the West Coast Main Line. Here a Freightliner Class 47 diesel loco backs onto the Pendolino with its barrier coach equipped with the necessary couplings. There are pictures of the APT at work 20 years ago here. APT Pictures Best wishes, John. [ 16 June 2002, 19:14: Message edited by: John Whitby ]
Cool! I remember seeing the APT when I was a kid on the TV, and again more recently looking rather abandoned at Crewe It's very interesting seeing the different styling traits of the times as well. It always amazed me that they could drop such a high profile project after taking it so far forward that they had pre-production APT sets into passenger service, they were truly ahead of their time..., it's a shame, but the West Coast mainline has seemed somewhat stuck in a timewarp ever since, untill now that is! Let's hope the Pendolino's work as well as the Voyager's have done and we can enjoy the red revolution!
Fascinating comparison John. It is good to see the APT looking nice and smart again, it looked rather sad last time I saw it at Crewe. A good publicity move by Virgin The APT project was yet another missed opportunity by Great Britain, thanks to the government's short-sightedness Instead of leading the world, we always seem to abandon promising projects, and then buy them from those who saw the potential, and completed the development work
Do you recognise the chap in black on the first APT shot ? Clue: I was hoping that Kylie Minogue would be with him John
Presumably Kylie Minogue missed out on this event then? (Or are you just keeping those pics to yourself ) Pete Waterman, am I right? (My first thought was Jason Donovan, but he has more hair )
I have spent many hours in the company of Pete Waterman, but no, I did not spot him! I think he and Kylie parted company some time ago. One day I was waiting in his recording studio reception to see him, and Kylie was due there to do some recording, but unfortunately, she did not arrive before I left And no, I was not there on music business, but trains
I have a VCR tape of the millionaire when he bought the APT from the UK Government. He restores and collects old real trains. There was some footage of it coming around a curve tilted. It should ride like an airplane or boat! I'll bet it will be fun to ride!
Dear All Good pics of the APT-I did'nt think it was still about. We had the gas-turbine version at Old Oak some-time in the early 70's. When they did the test runs between Old Oak and Swindon they re-fuelled it at Uffington loop by road tanker! It had quite an appetite for 4 star or what-ever they used then. Along with other turbines it was known as 'Kerosine Castle' and it also had a tendancy to chop blokes fingers off! Something to do with the cab steps that came out of the side,I seem to re-call. Security was tight too...you could not get any-where near it unless you had a special badge. No doubt worth a bomb now Best wishes Steve
Hi Steve, thanks for those memories, I think they would have been somewhat interesting times with a mix of Diesel-Electric, Diesel-Hydraulic and Gas Turbine on the Western! Sadly i'm a little young to remember any of that, but at least one power car of the gas turbine APT is "out the back" of the National Railway Museum at York....wish i'd taken a pic now when I was up there last year!
